


figuring it out

by gigglesandfreckles



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: baby ani and new dad obi are my drug, they get a hug bc I need that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:28:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26125768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gigglesandfreckles/pseuds/gigglesandfreckles
Summary: Anakin learns waking Obi-Wan up can sometimes be a good thing and Obi-Wan learns that maybe everything's going to be okay.
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 17
Kudos: 180





	figuring it out

“Obi-Wan.”

The Jedi shifted, trying to decipher whether or not he was dreaming. 

“Obi-Waaaaaaan.” Followed by a poke in his side.

So not a dream.

“Wha?” Obi-Wan blinked back the heavy waves of sleep still pulling at him to remain unconscious.

“Are you awake?” Why in the name of the Force Anakin was whispering when they were the only two who shared these quarters and he obviously wasn’t concerned with waking people up, Obi-Wan had no idea.

“No.” Obi-Wan replied, rolling back toward the wall.

But that was a mistake he should have foreseen, because suddenly there wasn’t one finger poking into his side but an entire nine-year-old human on top of him, his bony knees and arms jabbing in all of the worst places of Obi-Wan’s body.

“Anakin!” he groaned, trying to push the boy off of him.

The padawan only giggled, finally rolling off Obi-Wan into the tiny place between his Master and the wall.

Obi-Wan kept his eyes closed, hoping the child would get the message and go back to his own room. For a moment, Obi-Wan thought it might work, but then he felt the boy wiggling closer to him and opened his eyes to see Anakin’s face one inch from his.

“Hello there,” Anakin attempted to adopt a Coruscanti accent like Obi-Wan’s and stuck his tongue out, sending himself into a fit of giggles.

The older Jedi was not amused.

“Get out.” he said sharply, not flinching from the boy’s proximity. It had only been a month since the events of Naboo (and since Obi-Wan had found himself a legal guardian), but this...this he was already unfortunately used to.

Anakin had zero respect--or awareness--of personal space.

Obi-Wan had never so wished rooms in the Temple had locks.

“But Obi-Waaaan,” Anakin pleaded, now pressing his forehead against his master’s. “I need your help.”

“It’s the middle of the night.” the older Jedi pointed out, dryly.

“Please?”

“No. Get out.” And he rolled back the other way.

Again, Obi-Wan’s mistake.

An elbow dug into Obi-Wan’s shoulder as the younger boy climbed on top of him again. “I didn’t want to wake you up, but this is important.”

Obi-Wan seriously doubted his padawan had any qualms about waking him up, if the previous month had anything to show for it. He couldn’t count how many times Anakin had begged him to come look at his newly refurbished droid parts or read a story from the holo-pad in Basic.

“Tomorrow.” Obi-Wan moaned, shaking Anakin off his back and curling further into his pillow.

“Fiiiine,” the padawan sighed, moving toward the edge of the bed.

It wasn’t until Anakin was closing the door that Obi-Wan’s eyes shot open. 

That was too easy.

“Anakin?” He swung his feet to the floor, shrugging into the robe slung on the chair.

He hurried out of his room into the small common area once shared between him and Qui-Gon and now belonging to him and Anakin.

It was typical for younglings to stay with their clan until they were officially taken on as a Knight or Master’s padawan, but the Council decided tossing Anakin into an existing clan would only disrupt things more. Besides, though Anakin had a great deal of catch-up to do before he could officially be eligible to be a padawan, Obi-Wan had made his intentions to train the boy very clear.

Anakin was his padawan in every way other than the official Jedi title and that would happen sooner rather than later.

“Master!” he chirped, hopping in front of the older Jedi. His demeanor was entirely different now and the Force crackled with his nervousness. Obi-Wan lowered his eyebrows.

It was strange enough for Anakin to call him Master, a fact that didn’t truly bother Obi-Wan as much as made him feel wary around the Council. Anakin’s acceptance into the Order had been begrudging at best and Obi-Wan felt a personal commitment to make them like him.

“What did you do?” demanded Obi-Wan, side-stepping the young boy.

“Nothing!” said Anakin, his voice sounding high-pitched and strained. “You should go back to sleep, really. I don’t know what I was thinking, waking you up like that. I mean, you say all the time that--”

“Anakin.” snapped Obi-Wan. “Tell me.”

The small boy swallowed and then walked across the room. The living quarters of all Jedi looked the same. Decorations were considered frivolous and impractical, so there was generally a small sofa, a desk, and a table for eating. All food was provided by the Temple, so there was no need for a fully-functional kitchen. Just a sink and single cabinet for limited storage.

Anakin struggled to push the sofa a few inches and only then did Obi-Wan realise it had even been out of place.

That’s when he saw it.

“Anakin.” whispered Obi-Wan in disbelief, a hand immediately going to his chin.

“I’m sorry!” blurted Anakin, looking to already be on the verge of tears. “It’s just...I’ve seen you do it loads of times and Master Fisto said that it’s--”

He stopped rambling at Obi-Wan’s raised hand.

“Are you...are you mad?”

Obi-Wan stayed silent, staring at the still blazing hole on the floor. His lightsaber--his lightsaber--was on the floor nearby, looking quite suspicious.

Slowly, he stepped forward, grabbing the saber. “Where did you get this?”

Anakin gulped and cast his eyes to the floor, obviously knowing that this was the true crime here, not the destruction of Temple property.

“Anakin.” repeated Obi-Wan, his voice dangerously low.

“I took it from your room when you went to sleep,” admitted the padawan, his voice tiny and full of fear.

Obi-Wan took a breath, willing the Force to give him the patience and grace that he simply didn’t have at this time of night.

Had Qui-Gon known what he was leaving his padawan with?

As soon as he thought the question, he knew the answer. Of course he had. Obi-Wan was reminded of a time he had lost Qui-Gon’s lightsaber altogether, letting it fall into the River Harra. Qui-Gon had spent hours trying to recover the saber. But it never answered his Force call and a man can only spend so many hours in fleesha-infested waters before deciding constructing a new saber was the better course of option.

“Sit.” Obi-Wan instructed the terrified Jedi. He heard the harshness that still accompanied his tone and took another breath.

Anakin obeyed, collapsing onto the couch and balling up in a corner. Obi-Wan gently dropped into the spot next to him.

“I’m not angry.” began Obi-Wan and he found he meant it. Years of discipline and practice had finally brought him to a place where peace could always find residence and prevalence in the midst of his more human emotions.

There is no emotion, there is peace.

“Anakin, look at me.” The boy stopped fiddling with his sleeve and looked up at Obi-Wan with reprehension. “Do you trust me?”

Anakin looked baffled by this question, but nodded timidly, nonetheless.

“I have told the Council I will take you as my Padawan. You know this, yes?”

Another nod.

“Good.” It was Obi-Wan’s turn to nod. “I know you are anxious to learn the ways of the Jedi. But, little one...you must trust me to do my part and show you what you need to know in time.”

Anakin chewed on his lip, considering this.

“When Qui--when Master Jinn died,” Obi-Wan continued, noticing Anakin’s shudder, “he did not prepare me for this, for...for teaching you. But, Anakin…” Anakin looked up at him with those bright, blue eyes that made Obi-Wan feel both terrified and hopeful at the same time.

“Anakin, I promise you I will teach you everything you need to know. I meant what I said. You will be a Jedi.”

“Obi-Wan?” asked Anakin, his voice sounding a bit fuller now. “Can I ask you a question?”

“You don’t need permission to ask a question, Anakin. I want you to learn.”

“Except when you’re sleeping,” Anakin filled in. He didn’t mean it as a joke; it was just that Anakin Skywalker matter-of-factness Obi-Wan had yet to grow accustomed to.

His lips twitched as he withheld his smile. “Except when I’m sleeping,” he nodded.

“Do you want to teach me?” asked Anakin bluntly. “Or just ‘cause Master Qui-Gon told you to?”

Obi-Wan blinked in surprise and found that he had to think about that one. In the month since Qui-Gon’s passing, he hadn’t let himself consider this issue. He would train the boy. He’d promised.

But why?

Because it was his master’s dying instructions?

“It’s okay if it’s the second one.” Anakin took Obi-Wan’s silence to be an answer. “I get it. Y’know, Master Yoda said I could probably join Hawkwing Clan. They’re a little younger than me, but I don’t really know enough to--”

“Anakin.” Obi-Wan cut him off, shaking his head in exasperation. “What are you saying?”

The young Jedi tilted his head. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to teach me just because Master Qui-Gon died.”

Obi-Wan shuddered this time. Of course the boy would be more flippant about it; he couldn’t expect every being to have the same reverence for his former master. 

But as he thought this, he realised that Anakin was right. Qui-Gon was dead.

There is no death, there is the Force.

A smile pulled at his face as he heard the words in Qui-Gon’s deep tone. 

Death, the Force, something else altogether. It didn’t matter, really. The point was: Qui-Gon wasn’t here.

So what kept him here?

“Anakin, I want to teach you. Very very much.”

And to his surprise, he found that he meant those words, too.

Anakin didn’t look convinced.

Suddenly, it became very important for this boy to know he meant it.

“Here,” Obi-Wan grabbed the lightsaber from where it rested on the couch next to him and extended it to Anakin. He looked at it, skeptically. “It’s not a test. This time, I’m giving you my permission.” He allowed a small smirk.

Anakin grabbed the weapon with a mix of cautiousness and awe. 

“That is the most valuable thing I own.” Obi-Wan explained. “Jedi are not permitted to have many material possessions and I find that I don’t want them, anyway. But that…” he nodded toward the lightsaber that Anakin was turning over and over in his hand, “is the most valuable thing I call mine.”

“But you just got it.” observed Anakin, no doubt thinking to the week after Naboo where Obi-Wan journeyed alone to Ilum to construct it in the wake of his fight with Maul.

Obi-Wan chuckled. “And I have no doubt that I will construct several more in my lifetime.” He placed a hand on Anakin’s shoulder, pushing past his own unfamiliarity with physical affection to reach the boy in a way that felt safe to him. “But that’s not the point. It represents so much to me. Master Jinn always said a lightsaber is a Jedi’s life.”

“Wow,” Anakin sighed, smoothing his hand over the silver of the weapon.

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan said gently, prompting the boy to look away from the lightsaber and up at his master. “I would gladly give up my lightsaber forever if that is what teaching you required.”

Anakin stared at the older Jedi. “But you just said--”

Obi-Wan nodded. “It’s my life.”

“So you’d give up your…” Anakin trailed off, considering the implications of that metaphor. Finally, he looked at Obi-Wan with a face-splitting smile. “You want to be my teacher.”

Obi-Wan smiled warmly in return. “Very much so.”

And before he could say anything else, elbows and knees were digging into him again as the boy flung himself on top of Obi-Wan, trapping Obi-Wan in between his arms.

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan laughed. “I can’t...I can’t breathe.”

But this only served as encouragement for the young Jedi to tighten his grip.

Through the flurry of limbs, Obi-Wan caught a glimpse of his lightsaber on the floor, a forgotten casualty of Anakin’s assault. The older Jedi smiled.

Some things were more important.

**Author's Note:**

> not that it matters, but Anakin used Obi's saber to cut a huge circle out of the floor. why? because this is the thing about Jedi I will forever be hung up on; they can all do this perfectly. I cannot even draw a perfect circle, but they can slice through several feet of metal in a fluid motion with perfect symmetry. and you know what? this deserves to be challenged, if not by me, than by baby Anakin Skywalker.
> 
> follow me on tumblr: giggles-and-freckles


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